The peanut is the edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea. Although called a nut, the peanut is a member of the pea family (Family Fabaceae) and the fruit is not a nut, but a legume or pod. Peanuts develop underground in a woody pod, usually with two seeds to a pod. The peanut plant is a hairy, taprooted annual that measures 1 to 1.5 feet (30 to 45 centimetres) in height.

Peanuts are also known as groundnuts (because they grow underground), earthnuts, goobers, goober peas, pindas, pinders, Manila nuts and monkey nuts (although the last of these is often used to mean the entire pod, not just the seeds).

Peanuts are often roasted and salted, but also are often eaten raw, or boiled in salt water. They can also be made into peanut butter, peanut brittle, candy bars, and other products. Peanut oil is often used in cooking, because it has a mild flavor and burns only at a relatively high temperature.

Although most people enjoy many foods made with peanuts, some people have severe allergic reactions to peanuts; eating a single peanut can be fatal. For these individuals, just breathing the dust from peanuts has caused a fatal reaction. Because of this, peanuts are less frequently served on airplanes and peanut products are banned by many school districts for the protection of allergic students. Peanut oil does not contain the same proteins as the whole nut, so very few people are allergic to it. There is now an experimental drug available to combat this allergy, called TNX-901.

The small Spanish types are grown in South Africa, and in the southwestern and southeastern U.S. Prior to 1940, 90 percent of the peanuts grown in Georgia were Spanish types, but the trend since then has been larger seeded, higher yielding, more disease resistant varieties. Spanish peanuts have a higher oil content than other types of peanuts and in the U.S. are now primarily grown in Oklahoma and Texas.

Since 1940, there has been a shift to production of Runner type peanuts
in the southeastern U.S. Runners are found in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina. This shift is due to good flavor, better roasting characterics and higher yields when compared to Spanish types leading to food manufacturers' preference for use in peanut butter and salting.

Virginia type peanuts are either bunch or running in growth habit. The
bunch type is upright to spreading. It attains a height of 18 to 22 inches (45 to 55 centimetres),
and a spread of 28 to 30 inches (70 to 76 centimetres), with 33 to 36 inch (83 to 91 centimetre) rows that seldom cover
the ground. The pods are borne within a few inches of the base of the plant.

Peanuts for edible uses account for two-thirds of the total peanut consumption in the United States. The principal uses are peanut butter (see peanut butter and jelly sandwich), peanut candy, salted, shelled nuts, and nuts that have been roasted in the shell. Salted peanuts are usually roasted in oil and packed in retail size, transparent plastic bags and hermetically sealed cans. Dry roasted, salted peanuts are also marketed in significant quantities. The primary use of peanut butter is in the home, but large quantities are also used in the commercial manufacture of sandwiches, candy, and bakery products. Boiled peanuts are a preparation of raw, unshelled green peanuts typically eaten as a snack in the Southern United States where most peanuts are grown.

Low grade or culled peanuts not suitable for the edible market are utilized in the production of peanut oil, seed and feed.

Peanuts have a variety of industrial end uses. Paint, varnish, lubricating oil, leather dressings, furniture polish, insecticides, and nitroglycerin are made from peanut oil. Soap is made from saponified oil, and many cosmetics contain peanut oil and its derivatives. The protein portion of the oil is utilized in the manufacture of some textile fibers.

Peanut shells are put to use in the manufacture of plastic, wallboard, abrasives, and fuel. They are also used to make cellulose (used in rayon and paper) and mucilage (glue).

Peanut plant tops are used to make hay. The protein cake (oilcake meal) residue from oil processing is utilized as an animal feed and as a soil fertilizer.

George Washington Carver identified more than 300 different uses for peanuts. He encouraged cotton farmers to grow peanuts instead of or in addition to cotton because cotton had leached so much nitrogen from the soil in Alabama, and one of the peanut's properties as a legume is to put nitrogen back into the soil. His purpose in identifying a variety of uses was to encourage the growth of demand for the peanut so it could become a viable cash crop alternative to cotton.

Peanuts have been designated by the United States Congress to be one of America's basic crops. In order to protect domestic industry by keeping prices artificially high, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducts a Program for Peanuts. Two USDA programs for domestic peanuts are the Price Support Program and the Production Adjustment Program (National Poundage Quota). The Price Support Program consists of a two-tier price support system that is tied to a maximum poundage quota. Domestic peanuts produced subject to the poundage quota are supported at the higher of two prices, while peanuts over quota or those produced on farms not having a quota are supported at the lower rate. The quota support price acts as a floor price for domestic edible peanuts. For producers who fail to fill their quota in any given year, there is a maximum 10 percent over marketing allowance for the subsequent year. Pursuant to the program, producers may place peanuts under nonrecourse loan with the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) at the designated support price or they may privately contract for the sale of their crop.

Although India and China are the world's largest producers of peanuts, they account for a small part of international trade because most of their production is consumed domestically as peanut oil. Exports of peanuts
from India and China are equivalent to less than four percent of world
trade.

Ninety percent of India's production is processed into peanut oil. Only
a nominal amount of hand-picked select-grade peanuts are exported. India
prohibits the importation of all oil seeds, including peanuts.

The European Union is the largest consuming region
in the world that does not produce peanuts. All of its consumption is supplied by imports. Consumption of peanuts in the EU is primarily as food, mostly as roasted-in-shell peanuts and as shelled peanuts used in confectionery and bakery products.

The average annual imports of peanuts are less than 0.5 percent of U.S.
consumption. Two thirds of U.S. imports are roasted, unshelled peanuts.
The major suppliers are Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia,
Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Canada. The principal suppliers of shelled peanut imports are Argentina and Canada. Most of Canada's peanut butter is processed from Chinese peanuts. Imports of peanut butter from Argentina are in the form of a paste and must be further processed in the U.S. Other minor suppliers of peanut butter include Malawi, China, India, and Singapore.

Approximately fifty percent of all peanuts produced in the United States are grown within a 100-mile radius of Dothan, Alabama. Dothan is home to the National Peanut Festival established in 1938 and held each fall to honor peanut growers and celebrate the harvest.